THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY SALON

A cultural gathering for community platform The Tenth. This piece documents an intimate salon commemorating the organization’s first year, honoring joy, authorship, and belonging as catalysts for cultural change.

Featuring A’Lelia Bundles (author of Joy Goddess and great-granddaughter of Madam C. J. Walker) and scholar Karida Brown, the conversation revisited the salon legacy of A’Lelia Walker, whose “Dark Tower” gatherings during the Harlem Renaissance served as a blueprint for building movements through intentional assembly.

The Tenth’s anniversary salon reflects that inheritance, positioning joy and proximity as structural tools for cultivating culture, connection, and collective memory.